Nephew needs prayer

[crickadoodle]

My husband's youngest sister's oldest son is in ICU in Lafayette.  They don't know what he has yet.  At first they thought it was food poisoning, but now they are thinking it is bacterial and they have the infectious disease doctor coming in on the case.  He has pneumonia and some heart damage, from the report we've gotten.  He is on oxygen.  His name is MacKensey and he is a very gifted musician and athlete.  I think he is 17 and a junior in high school.  We will be driving to Lafayette this afternoon.

Please pray for him to be restored to health and able to walk out of that hospital soon.  He is a precious boy and we are quite concerned by the reports we've heard.  We know God is bigger than all of this and He can heal him.

[Mary J]

Prayers being said for him.... keep us posted.. will be thinking of you and hubby.

Mary J

[tonz2day]

Crick, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.  Keep us posted!

[ZsaZsa]

Lord, we lift up MacKensey to You, Your Word says "By His stripes I am healed" touch his body as only You can dear Lord and stop that issue in its tracks...AMEN!!!!

[godstemple]

I will be praying God's healing hands....

[bludaffodil]

I will join everyone in praying for your nephew
and for a miraculous recovery to take place
soon so our Father in Heaven can be glorified.

Kathy

[crickadoodle]

Update -- the cardiologist is very concerned about the effect on his heart.  They are sedating him to try to rest his heart and are hoping that he'll improve quickly with no further heart damage.  If not they plan to send him to Children's Hospital to put him on the waiting list for a heart transplant.  We really need God to move on his behalf.  We trust in His goodness and will continue to pray for healing.  Thank you for your continued prayers.

[CodingQueen]

crickadoodle,

I will be praying for him and the family.

I'm assuming that you're talking about the Women and Children's Hospital in Lafayette. I wasn't aware that they performed heart transplants.

CQ

[crickadoodle]

No, Children's Hospital in N.O.  And we found out tonight it is 10 to 14 days that they are giving him to improve.  They are giving him antibiotics and of course, sedated him to lessen the stress on his heart.  Thank you for the prayers.  It was so sad to see him just laying there, but we were glad we got to go there to pray for him in person.  They said that because he is young and strong, his chances are better.  We will pray and hope and trust God for the best.

[LovinLDL]

Oh crickadoodle,

As I look over at my 17yo son I pray for this young man.  I will continue to pray for him and the family.

Trusting Jesus,
Julie

[LINDA RN]

I thank you, Jesus for providing healing and total restoration of this, your child's, heart. In Jesus name. AMEN (so be it).

[crickadoodle]

We plan to make the trip again tomorrow after work with my husband's 2 kids.  I know it means a lot to his sister for us to be there and we get to pray in person.  We are seeing relationships healed, as the parents are divorced and the in laws haven't treated my sister in law very well.  The dad hasn't been faithful to pay child support and is behind.  My sister in law is financially beyond what is comfortable, of course.  I can tell she is concerned about the finances, but when your son is so sick, you do what you have to do.  I believe God is working on all hearts and mending relationships and will right these areas that need fixing.  Sometimes it takes something serious like this to get us to recognize our priorities are out of whack.  You know?  I think this is happening for many, and that is always a good thing.  God is good and Jesus is the Healer -- the Great Physician.  We look to Him to complete the work in MacKensey and raise him up off that sick bed.

[crickadoodle]

We found out from my SIL today that the results for a test they do daily on his heart were much improved.  I'm not sure of the test, maybe Victoria knows (CQ?), but the number of a healthy heart is 60 and the number of a heart near death is 20.  Well my nephew's heart was 20 and is now at 40 -- so that is in the middle, but much improved over where it was.

We will be going to visit again tonight.  I was praying this morning and asked the Lord to give me a scripture for Mac.  I saw Psalm 31, so I went to my Bible and read it.  The very last verse of that chapter (vs. 24) says, "Be of good courage, And He shall strenghten your heart, All you who hope in the Lord."  I ended up doing a search on all the scriptures with heart in them and couldn't find a better one than that for this situation.  I know God directed me to that very scripture, so I made a nice, cardstock copy of it to bring tonight to put in his room.  I also found in Psalm 66:18-20 a very important scripture for those of us praying which says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.  But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer.  Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer, Nor His mercy from me!"  I made a cardstock copy of this too.  I put an asterisk by "iniquity" and defined it, because if you don't know what it means, what good is it?  It means, "absence of moral or spiritual values, evil, morally objectionable behavior."  We definitely want our prayers heard. 

Again, thank you to everyone who is praying for Mac.  I'll keep you posted on his condition.

[CodingQueen]

crickadoodle,

I'm a true believer that God leads us down the right path if we let him. You asked and received an answer when you prayed. How great is that?

The number that you are speaking of is called an "ejection fraction." The normal range is 55% to 70% depending on the doctor you speak to regarding the issue.

What is an ejection fraction, exactly?  

You heart consists of four chambers: right atrium, right ventricle, left atrium, left ventricle.   The right side of your heart receives de-oxygenated blood from your body and pumps it to the lungs. The left side receives oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps it to your body. The left side of your heart is larger and more powerful. It would need to be to pump blood to your entire body.

When your heart contracts, the atrium (top part of the heart) contracts small fractions of a second before the ventricles (bottom part of the heart) contract.  Therefore, your ventricles are maximally filled with blood before they contract. After the ventricles contract, there is an amount of blood left in the chamber. This is a good thing because it keeps the chamber in essence from collapsing in on itself and the walls of your heart from sticking to each other. If they did collapse, it would be much more work for your atria to push the ventricles open to fill them with blood.  

So, your ventricle is most filled with blood before it contracts and least filled with blood the instant it is finished contracting.  During an echocardiogram or perfusion stress test, the amount of blood in your ventricle at both of the times can be measured.  

The ejection fraction, then, is the amount of the blood remaining in your left ventricle divided by the amount of blood in your heart right before it contracts.

When you have heart disease, your left ventricle cannot, for a variety of reasons, contract as well as it once did. A diseased heart leaves more blood in the ventricles than it should and pumps too little to the rest of your body.  Therefore, your ejection fracture decreases.

I hope this explanation helps you to better understand why it's so important for his percentage to increase.

CQ

[crickadoodle]

I knew if anyone knew what it was, you would know, Victoria.  Thank you so much for the explanation.  It is always so nice to get good news when in a situation like this, of course.  40 is much better than 20 and we are praying it gets stronger and stronger.

[Angel81]

crickadoodle-
I just wanted to let you know that I am praying for your family as well.  I am glad to be a part of such a caring and loving group of people.  I wanted to send you a msg back thanking you, but I am not allowed yet.  The services for our dear Shelby are going to be tomorrow morning.  If you want to see what our sweet Shelby was like here is a link http://www.sandersfuneralhome.com/obitu ... shelby.htm

But I am praying for you and thank you for praying for us. 

[julie409]

Doodlebug, 

I am so sorry I did not see this until now. Please know that your nephew and all of your family are in my thoughts and prayers. If you can provide an update I am sure that everyone would like to know. 

How is he doing?  Has there been more improvement?

I am praying to hear more good news soon,

Julie

[Deborah D.]

I will be praying for this young man also, and all the family.

Deborah D.

[crickadoodle]

Angel, Shelby was so beautiful.  Oh, she is rejoicing in Heaven today and is with her Lord.  I know you'll miss her, though, but we are not like those who are without hope, for the dead in Christ will rise.

[tonz2day]

Crickadoodle, what's the latest on your nephew.

Angel, Shelby is beautiful and you've got to miss her terribly!  My heart aches for you.